Wednesday, September 13, 2017

The Lost Ones (Nora Watts)

This one got quite some praise, comparing it to the best Scandinavian Noir while it comes from Canada. Not sure why those comparisons, because it's just as much an American hardboiled detective / noir story. Maybe it's the fact the protagonist is a broken rape victim/survivor like Lisbeth Salander?
Nora Watts used to be in the Army, was raped and birthed a daughter from that traumatic event. She had the baby adopted, not ready to take care of a kid then.
As the novel starts we find her working as a researcher for a PI firm. She gets hired by the people who adopted her child to find her. Yes, her own daughter ends up missing. When she investigates she ends crawling back into the bottle she swore off and basically goed down the deep end, however never stopping to look for the girl. When a link is discovered between the rape and the fact her child is missing things get even more personal and dark.
This is not a light novel. While the first hundred or so pages read like just a nice take on the female PI story what follows is a very dark and sometimes depressing story. It sometimes hurt to see Nora alone, hurt and drunk. That's good writing there!
Yep, this one will be nabbing the Shamus this year and other awards for sure. A literary but absolutely hardboiled detective story that will be sure to win over all critics.

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About Me

I am a dutch writer, writing often in english. My special interests are crime movies and novels, rock music (I am a rock reporter for a dutch site) and comic books.
You can write me at jvdsteen@hotmail.com